MOTOR CONFERENCE

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12459, 29 May 1926, Page 18

MOTOR CONFERENCE

NORTH AND SOUTH MEET OVERLAPPTNG~OF TAXING AUTHORITIES. Messrs H. B. Jones (Auckland), A. I. Toogood, H. J. Stott (Wellington), and Dr. l’orritt (Wanganui), delegates of the North Island Motor Union, went south on Thursday to meet the four delegates ol : the South Island Motor Union in conference. Nearly a score of remits are going forward' from the North Island, so the conference promises to be a busy one. A well-known city motorist th* other day approximated the voting strength of motorists at 300,000 on a basis of 100,000 motor vehicles, ami allowing an average of three votes to each, husband, wife and grown-up son. A formidable array of strength. One remit has for its purpose a protest against local bodies obtaining legislation enabling them to further tax motorists for the construction am! maintenance of roads. Motorists and their organisations arr arriving at the conviction that loca bodies are Jooking upon motorists as the goose which lays the golden egg and that the operations of first the Hntt Road Board, and then City and Suburban Highways Bo?.rd which superseded it, have opened their eyes to an inexhaustible source of revenue which cannot be too fully exploited. Of course motorists view such an outlook with alarm, especially having regard to the fact that the Hamilton Borough Council has just passed the following resolution : ‘‘That the ' Government be asked to Introduce legislation giving loca bodies control to make and maintain roads, and to collect a fee sufficiently high to provide 80 per cent, of the interest and sinking fund on loam for the purpose of making road and streets capable of standing pre sent day motor traffic, and also foi the maintenance ot such roads am streets.” If such a request is conceded it >• ujgcd that local authorities will readily seize upon such an opportunity vc fleece the motorists for road making and maintenance, thus relieving tin. general ratepayers of their fair share of the burden. The multiplication of taxing ant. licensing authorities is a matter that will require serious consideration before bringing into operation. When the petrol tax was proposed exemption? 'yore claimed for farmers, doctors, fishermen and taximen. Motoring bodies now state that the amount used by farmers which would be entitled t. exemption is only a very small pro portion of the whole. No objection is made to doctors being exempted on humane grounds, but when it came to the exemption of fishermen one member of an automobile body explosively exclaimed : “Why should‘they be exempted? The fishing business is practically a, monopoly in the hands of the Italians. And look at the price of fish. If motorists ever pay petrol tax they should pay as well.” At presen* the tyre tax operates, collected by the Customs Department. A mutual insurance scheme is to be propounded, including a provision to compel all motorists to insure against third party risks. There i> some division of opinion on the latter point, and there is a good deal to be said for and against; The careful motorist feels aggrieved at being asked to insure against the risks created by those who do not use reasonable care. DANGEROUS PRACTICE The new road which has been constructed across the old quarry at Queen’s Drive at the other end of Lyall Bay will bo a big boon to motorists, as it cuts out an awkward piece of semi-circular road, and \ciy exposed. Tho new road is practically on a level with the old one, and a line of barrels has been placed in position to define the dividing line between the old and new. A motorist who drove round a few evenings back found the barrels unlightcd and a serious danger to traffic. Anyone who has not been round that road recently would be on to the barrels before seeing them, and m inet ho collided with one himself, lortunatcly doing no damage. H the City Council employees have placed the barrels there—for a good reason no doubt—they should he hunted un until the old road has been properly closed up. UNIFORM SPEED REGULATIONS AT SIXES AXD SEVENS. J lie great difference in speed limits cnlorced in various boroughs is a matter that is to bo considered at the conforcnro of delegates of the North Island and South Island Jlidor unions. A ten mile limit at Petonc is succeeded by a 2.3 mile limit at Lower llutt, and possibly another figure in the next borough, with hardly two ad joining boroughs alike. What is urged is that speed should not necessarily he tho proof of dangerous driving, which should really he judged on circumstances. Under certain conditions eight miles an hour might he considered dangerous driving, nhile m another instance a speed 01 JO miles would be quite safe. -Motorists travelling the country cannot be expected to memorise all the by-laws in operation, and the numerous speed limits. It is hoped to brine about the introduction of a uniform reasonable speed limit, and further that prosecutions for dangerous driving shall not depend upon evidence that a specified speed was exceeded, but that dangerous driving must bo literally proved. SAFETYFIRST FILMS FROM U.S.A. Following the recent display of film* having a special interest to motor‘sls and dealing with such subjects as safety first., good roads, fair play to nvi- u r " c. sl .' o "' n , in Wellington by •Mr Walton Schmidt, of the New York associated Chamber, when on his way tc. the Motor Conference in WeiImglon, the North Island Motor iuou luis directed its secretary, .Air publicity and educational work in New Zealand. If it is possible to get them they will \>c sent round tho North Island. Ono or two of these are of general interest, heimr amusing as well as in. K.tructive. 1 Ik\v were produced by tiie Ford Laboratories.